Battle of Brandywine

The Battle of Brandywine (11 September 1777) was a major battle of the American Revolutionary War that occurred during the Philadelphia campaign of 1777-78. The British victory at Brandywine forced the Continental Army to retreat towards Philadelphia, which would fall to the British not long after.

In 1777, 15,000 British troops landed in the Thirteen Colonies to reinforce William Howe, whose army in New York City was facing off with George Washington's army at Morristown, New Jersey. Howe's army departed from Sandy Hook, New Jersey on 23 July 1777 and landed near Elkton, Maryland at the northern end of the Chesapeake Bay. Marching north, the British brushed aside American light forces in a few skirmishes. George Washington decided to block the British advance at Brandywine Creek, crossing Howe's path of advance. The creek was narrow and deep, but it was not a perfect natural barrier, as there were eight fords across the Brandywine. Washington was therefore forced to spread out his army, and he deployed his army along the shallow fords. Local farmers told Washington that there were no other crossings to protect, but Howe found that the farmers were wrong, as there was another crossing further up the river at Jefferey's Ford, near Sconneltown. While a part of his force occupied the Americans at Chadd's Ford, Howe took the main force across the undefended ford to attack Washington from behind.

At 10:30 AM on 11 September, British cannon at Chadd's Ford began pounding the American body. The Scottish rifleman Patrick Ferguson considered shooting an American officer from a distance, but he spared him, saying that it was wrong to shoot an officer in the back; a day later, he discovered that he officer was Washington himself. Washington began receiving contradictory reports that the British were moving upstream or that they were not, and he chose to believe that they were not. However, at 4:30 PM, he heard the thunder of artillery coming from his right. Unlike at the Battle of Long Island, the rebels stood and fought the British toe-to-toe. The Americans suffered 1,300 killed, lost, or wounded; the Marquis de Lafayette, on his first day of battle, was shot in the leg. Howe's army was now just 25 miles from Philadelphia, and members of the Continental Congress removed the Liberty Bell and the records of the revolution from the city, preparing to abandon the city.